John Z. DeLorean's greatest creation (next to the DeLorean). Built beginning in 1964 as an option package for the Pontiac Tempest LeMans, it was immediately successful. GTO stands for Gran Turismo Omologato, or in English, Grand Touring Homologated. It envolved taking a relatively small Tempest body, removing the 4-cylinder engine, and dropping in a much larger 389 cu. in. V-8 found in the Pontiac Bonneville. The result was an absolute thrill to drive. To date it is regarded by any true sports car authority as one of the greatest sports cars ever made. To this day, they can be seen beating Domestics and Imports alike.

ahhh, the muscle car. Standing for gran turismo omologato, or nick-name GAS-TIRES-OIL., on account of your gonna need alot of all 3 when you drive it. Whatever you wanna call it, it was named after the ferrari 250 of the same badge. Appearing in 1964 as a high-end package on the tempest, it was the first muscle car, not mustang. If you look at mustang , those people try to say that it was the first. Anyway, in late '63, John DeLorean got to work, he dropped a 389 in a tempest to give it 325 hp, dual exhausts,AFB 4-barrel carb, 3.23 final drive and tons of GTO badges. Yes it got bigger, to 400 CI, but after '72, more fuel effecient cars were gaining popularity. In '74, it was discontinued. But in 04, america got to see the new GTO, true to its roots, 400 hp and rear wheel drive.

Suffix given to a number of cars- notably the Pontiac GTO and before that the Ferrari 250 GTO (said to be the greatest creation of the company).

When this term is used in the USA, you will generally find it refering to the Pontiac. However, among serious car nuts, you will find fans of the uber rare beauty designed by Giotto Bizzarrani.

Only 39 Ferrari 250 GTO's were created bewtween 1962 and 1964. They were the super-powered track version of the model Enzo's company were pushing at this period. At 185 mph it was an extremely fast car for the times. I'm not sure on this, but I think it was the fastest road legal car in the world for some time. The first instance I can think of a road car going faster was the Porsche 959 (197 mph). Don't quote me on that one.

The car dominated early 60's racing before rear engined sports racer, following in the wheeltracks of formula one, gained an upper hand.

In its day, it was the car among cars. The McLaren of past times. At the end of the eighties, a second hand model was sold for an estimated $9 million. Given inflation, it's a lot more than that now. Of course, Bugatti Royale is now a more expensive car to purchase.

Sadly, this marked the end of Ferrari's domination of LeMans and similar. The arrival of the GT40 and other factors caused Ferrari to put all its efforts into a successful F1 career, something which it has done very well.